The Brady Bunch

The Brady Bunch was a US television situation comedy, based around a large family. Shown between September 1969 and August 1974 on ABC, there were 117 episodes.

Mike Brady, a widower with sons Greg, Peter and Bobby and a wisecracking housekeeper called Alice married Carol Martin, whose daughters were Marcia, Jan and Cindy. They all moved into a new home designed by Mike and various family problems ensued. Initially scripts focused on the various family member's attempts to adjust to the new blended family. Later, problems of growing teenagers such as school yard rivalries, dating problems and household squabbles were explored.

The cast appeared in an opening title sequence in which video head shots were arranged in a three-by-three grid, with each cast member appearing to look at the other cast members. The sequence has been widely imitated and lampooned since:

Maureen McCormick (Marcia)	Florence Henderson (Carol)	Barry Williams (Greg)
Eve Plumb (Jan)	Ann B. Davis (Alice)	Christopher Knight (Peter)
Susan Olsen (Cindy)	Robert Reed (Mike)	Mike Lookinland (Bobby)

The show is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, having lasted in the minds of Americans for over thirty years. It is the show in widest syndication with the longest consecutive airing time in history. (Since its first show date, an episode of the show has been on T.V. somewhere in the world every single day.) The teenage talent on the show spun off singing careers as they toured the U.S.A. in the 1970s, and a variety show called "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" was spun-off (featuring a replacement actress for Eve Plumb.) Several successful T.V. movies were made, and several spin-off sitcoms were attempted, including "The Brady Brides." All failed.

A 1995 movie, The Brady Bunch Movie placed the original 1970s sitcom characters, with their 1970s fashion sense and 1970s sitcom family morality, in a contemporary setting, and parodied the resulting culture clash. The resulting movie was successful enough that a reasonably well-received sequel , imaginatively titled A Very Brady Sequel, was produced, which made sly comment on the well-documented real-life sexual tension between some of the teenage cast members of the original TV series. Just recently there was a made-for-TV movie called The Brady Bunch in the White House which had very bad reviews.

Among the television show, there were a few albums that were made: Merry Christmas from the Brady Bunch, Meet the Brady Bunch, Kids from the Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch Phonographic Album, and Maureen McCormick and Chris Knight from the Brady Bunch. Two very popular songs were Sunshine Day and Keep On Groovin'.